FBI denies claims of Apple ID hack

Protesters in "Guy Fawkes" masks favored by the Anonymous hackers group pose at a demonstration in February.

Story highlights

Hackers post 1 million iPhone, iPad IDs they say are from FBI

Antisec is a politically minded branch of the activist collective Anonymous

The group's claim has not been independently confirmed

FBI: There's no evidence that the claims are true

The FBI on Tuesday said there is "no evidence" to support claims by a hackers group that they accessed information about millions of Apple users on a bureau computer.

The hackers have posted online what they claim are the IDs of more than 1 million iPhones and iPads. And they say that's just part of the more than 12 million IDs -- and other information such as users' names, cell phone numbers and billing addresses -- they got from the laptop of an FBI agent.

The release, if authentic, sparked a flurry of headlines Tuesday and raised questions about both FBI security and why the bureau would have collected that information about people in the first place.

Antisec, a politically minded branch of the hacker collective Anonymous, posted the ID numbers on Monday. If cross-referenced with info available to Apple developers, they could theoretically help someone find more specific details about the device's owner.

The post claimed that hackers exploited a vulnerability in the programming language Java on the computer of Special Agent Christopher K. Stangl, who specializes in cybersecurity.

Photos: A visual history of the telephone 20 photos

Photos: A visual history of the telephone20 photos

A visual history of the telephone – Fifty years ago, the first push-button telephone was introduced. The electronic system featured Touch-Tone dialing and was offered to Bell customers on November 18, 1963. Click through the gallery to see a visual history of the telephone.

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Photos: A visual history of the telephone20 photos

A visual history of the telephone – Alexander Graham Bell invented the liquid transmitter, the first practical means of sending voice calls, in 1876.

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Photos: A visual history of the telephone20 photos

A visual history of the telephone – This 1924 phone booth in London features a wall-mounted phone with separate mouthpiece and receiver.

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Photos: A visual history of the telephone20 photos

A visual history of the telephone – The telephone has come a long way from the 1930s, when rotary-dial models like this one were popular.

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Photos: A visual history of the telephone20 photos

A visual history of the telephone – This rotary phone in Reading, Pennsylvania, could be used to summon police, ambulance or fire services at a moment's notice in the 1930s.

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Photos: A visual history of the telephone20 photos

A visual history of the telephone – Rotary-dial telephones with separate mouthpieces and receivers were commonly referred to as "candlestick" phones. This model from the mid-1930s features the rotary dial in the shaft of the telephone.

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Photos: A visual history of the telephone20 photos

A visual history of the telephone – This 1950s rotary phone features an attached mouthpiece and receiver.

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Photos: A visual history of the telephone20 photos

A visual history of the telephone – Here English troops call their loved ones in 1956 after being told to prepare for duty in the Suez Canal Zone. Payphones were common until cell phones became popular and affordable.

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Photos: A visual history of the telephone20 photos

A visual history of the telephone – Some of the first push-button phones are pictured here in 1971.

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Photos: A visual history of the telephone20 photos

A visual history of the telephone – French skier Franck Piccard talks on his mobile phone after an event at the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

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Photos: A visual history of the telephone20 photos

A visual history of the telephone – This mobile phone was marketed by Racal-Vodac Limited in 1997 to serve either as a portable unit or as a mobile unit installed in a car. The unit was sold with a battery charger and extension antenna for areas with poor reception.

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Photos: A visual history of the telephone20 photos

A visual history of the telephone – Cell phone manufacturers made great strides between 1997 and 2004. The Palm Treo 600 smartphone, pictured here in 2004, integrated telephone with e-mail and Internet-browsing capabilities.

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Photos: A visual history of the telephone20 photos

A visual history of the telephone – Motorola's MPx wireless device, released in the second half of 2004, took the smartphone to a new level with Wi-Fi capabilities and a fully functional keyboard.

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Photos: A visual history of the telephone20 photos

A visual history of the telephone – The first-generation Apple iPhone, released on June 29, 2007, had people lining up for days to buy one. A huge advancement in phones at the time, it incorporated a touchscreen, apps, e-mail, Web surfing and a host of other features.

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Photos: A visual history of the telephone20 photos

A visual history of the telephone – The BlackBerry Bold 9930, shown here, was one of many BlackBerry devices so popular in the early 2000s they were dubbed "CrackBerries." Popular for business applications because of their full keyboards and advanced e-mail capabilities, most BlackBerrys have since been eclipsed by flashier smartphones.

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Photos: A visual history of the telephone20 photos

A visual history of the telephone – The iPhone 4S, released in 2011, expanded on the iPhone's innovations with its high-resolution screen and Siri, Apple's voice-activated virtual "assistant."

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Photos: A visual history of the telephone20 photos

A visual history of the telephone – The original Motorola Droid was the thinnest of its kind at its 2011 release. Motorola's Droid Razr Maxx, seen here on display at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, has a longer battery life than previous models.

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Photos: A visual history of the telephone20 photos

A visual history of the telephone – Last year, Samsung's Galaxy S III overtook Apple's iPhone 4S to become the world's best-selling smartphone for the third quarter, according to research by Strategy Analytics.

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A visual history of the telephone – The iPhone 5 looks similar to previous models but has a larger screen and is lighter and thinner than the iPhone 4S. The phone also comes with a faster processor called the Apple A6, which connects to mobile carriers with a 4G LTE connection.

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A visual history of the telephone – BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins displays two new Blackberry 10 smartphones January 30 in New York. The Z10, left, features an all-touch keyboard. The Q10 features a classic BlackBerry tactile keyboard.

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"The FBI is aware of published reports alleging that an FBI laptop was compromised and private data regarding Apple UDIDs (unique device IDs) was exposed," according to an FBI spokesperson. "At this time there is no evidence indicating that an FBI laptop was compromised or that the FBI either sought or obtained this data."

As of Tuesday afternoon, there had been no independent verification that the IDs came from an FBI computer. Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

"We don't have any way of confirming the source of the data, or what else might have been taken, but it does appear that the files do contain at least some genuine Apple UDIDs," said Graham Cluley, a senior tech consultant at Sophos Security. "Certainly things would be worse if the personal info was also released. But at the moment it feels as if the hackers might be more interested in embarrassing the FBI and causing mischief than putting innocent users at risk."

Because of the secretive nature of what they do, as well as the lack of any official organizational structure, no official spokesperson for Antisec or Anonymous came forward to take credit for the hack.

But Monday's post on document-sharing site Pastebin refers readers to a Twitter feed considered a reliable source of Anonymous information. On it, the user, or users, took credit for the post.

"Pleased to see, media actually asking the right question: Why the hell does an FBI agent have a database with 12M Apple UDID on his laptop?" read one tweet Tuesday.

The group claimed the document had been viewed 370,000 times in less than 24 hours.

In the document, the hackers criticize a government they claim uses hackers internally while actively prosecuting private citizens who do the same things for their own purposes. The group also includes messages of support for alleged hackers being prosecuted, such as Wikileaks founder Julian Assange as well as for Pussy Riot, the punk rock protesters jailed in Russia for a stunt criticizing President Vladimir Putin.

In their typical gonzo style, the Anonymous hackers' post combined a political credo with offbeat antics. Among them: an offer to grant interviews about their hack if Adrian Chen, a Gawker reporter who has written about Anonymous, is portrayed on the main page of Gawker for a full day wearing a ballet tutu and a shoe on his head. ("Put Shoe on Head" is an Internet meme that originated on 4chan, a home base of sorts for many who claim allegiance to Anonymous).

For his part, Chen actually seemed to be pondering the offer, if highly skeptical.

"How can I be sure Anonymous will hold up their part of the deal? Shadowy outlaw hacker groups are not known for their integrity," he wrote Tuesday. "I'm currently trying to gain certain assurances. Stay tuned for tutu-age."